A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
New language program Web site aids deploying troops
Launched this month, the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center's new online resource offers deploying service members easier access to hundreds of linguistic materials, free of charge, according to a DLIFLC news release. Ms. McGinn said language has a unique ability to connect U.S. operators with their foreign counterparts and local civilians..."To be able to communicate with the people, to understand what they're saying, to understand what they're thinking, to understand what their habits are and the correct way to interact with people is incredibly important," Gail H.
In India, Magazines That Translate Well
An explosion of Western magazines has hit newsstands in India in the past 12 months, pitching a familiar mix of consumption and gossip, relationship advice and expensive goodies.
Phone Call From China Transformed ’84 Games
As the world prepares for the Beijing Games in August, the moment when China defied the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles games stands as the moment when the winds shifted and carried the Games away from a political bludgeon in the cold war to the combination of athletic and commercial success they have become since. Now, no matter what political issues arise — and with China there are many: human rights, Tibet, its relationship with the government of Sudan — large-scale national boycotts of the Games are no longer part of the discussion.
China Downbeat but Race for Most Medals Should be Close
China has spent the last two years downplaying its chances of leapfrogging the Americans at the top of the Olympic medals table in Beijing, but the race for global sporting supremacy still looks like a close one.
World Will Not Allow Olympics to be Politicized
The Beijing Olympic Games is not just a grand gathering of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, but also a gathering of all the peace-loving people around the world, it will propagate valuable virtues such as peace, friendship and cooperation. To politicize such a grand and happy ceremony will only hurt the feelings of all the peace-lovers, including the Chinese people, and tarnish the spirit of the Olympics. That is why rejecting the politicizing of the Olympics has always been the mainstream ideal in the international community.
Beijing Orders Pollution to Vanish
Experts familiar with the city's plans for short-term pollution controls say Beijing's air should vastly improve in the final run-up to the Games. That will be good news for the country's reputation and a successful event. However, the solution is only a quick fix; once the controls are lifted, Beijing will most likely return to its smoggy norm.
Army Learning From Postwar Debacle
The Army developed a new doctrine for fighting a counterinsurgency; it learned how to work with Iraqi tribal leaders; it pursued al-Qaida into every village of Iraq; it experimented with soft power, by working closely with Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
The Hidden Face of Political Islamism
Visitors to Islam Expo would have witnessed such innocent activities as an Islamic arts and crafts workshop for under 12s, live Islamic storytelling performances and lute-playing and poetry recitals in the pomegranate and date garden...But behind the cultural soft power of Islam Expo, there is political hard power, and some of it comes in quite raw, unpalatable forms.
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